Mohammed Huwais| Agence France Presse
SANAA: Long queues of men line the streets of Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa waiting alongside empty propane gas canisters they are desperate to replace so they have fuel to cook. Three years of war accompanied by a crippling Arab-led blockade has led to chronic shortages and with them prices that are skyrocketing.

The price for a refill of cooking gas has more than doubled in recent weeks from $12 to $26.

Longtime Sanaa resident Mohammad Khaled Hussein said he had been waiting three days for a replacement canister to take back to his family with the hope of at least making tea and rice.

But each time he went home with the empty one.

“I’ve still not been able to get a replacement canister and today I found out that prices have soared again,” Hussein said.

“We even heard petrol shortages could be next,” he added. “So I headed to the nearest petrol station and used the money I had put aside for propane gas to fill my car a bit.”

Supporters of the Houthi rebels accuse the Yemeni army and its Saudi-led allies of blocking fuel supplies to the capital and other rebel-held areas across the north.

Other Sanaa residents, however, say the rebels are to blame for imposing a hefty fuel tax.

Restaurateur Talal Sharaf al-Qudsi said he had been forced to close his doors after the shortages left him unable to run his ovens.

“I can’t raise the prices on these poor people,” Qudsi said. “It’s better to just close the restaurant.”

Bus driver Shihab al-Hashidi, whose vehicle is his sole source of income, says he struggled for days to fill up his tank.

“One day you manage to fill your tank, then the next two or three days you’re stuck parked without fuel,” Hashidi said. “There are a lot of buses out of service and parked.”

The crisis has seen residents turn to other forms of fuel, including firewood, as they attempt to adjust.